(VOVworld) - The high water, particularly in October and November, turns Tra Su melaleuca forest in the Mekong province of An Giang into a tourist attraction. The journey around the green, peaceful melaleuca forest, which has a typical wetlands ecological system, west of the Hau River, is an interesting experience.
From the middle of September until the Tet lunar New Year is the best time of year to visit Tra Su. This is when the entire forest is inundated.
The 500 meters of road from the car park to the forest’s gate has been paved. Along the walking path are lotus ponds and rows of green trees, providing a friendly welcome to visitors. At the wharf, you can see right away that the forest is covered by the green of maleleuca and water-fern floating on the water’s surface.
Visitors take a motorboat to explore the forest which covers an area of 845 hectares. Along the way, they see birds perched on tree trunk, bunches of water lilies, and water-ferns. On request, the boat drivers will stop for passengers to enjoy the beautiful landscape and take photos. Huynh Thanh Tuan, our boat driver, says every year the place attracts about 10,000 visitors, many of them have come back for two or three times. Tuan says: “Visitors have to take a motor boat and a row boat to see the forest. It might take 1 hour on the row boat. Our boat service begins at 7.30 am and ends at 5 pm. This gives visitors abundant time to explore the forest”.
At a smaller wharf inside the forest, visitors transfer to a row boat.
The row boat takes visitors to the most beautiful areas of the Tra Su melalauca forest.
During the boat ride, they can reach out and touch the water-fern and yellow Sesbania sesban. In the early morning or late afternoon, visitors may get a chance to see large flocks of birds flying from or to their nests. Nguyen Nam Ha from Hanoi is delighted at the beauty of the Tra Su melaleuca forest: “ I really love the natural beauty. I have a friend from An Giang who often uploads photos to social-netwokring pages. Lots of his photos are of the Tra Su forest. I like them so much. I decided to come here. I live in the northern region so I have never seen melaleuca. This is my very first time”.
The boat rowers who live in the forest are also tour guides. The boat glides over the water and stops beside old melaleuca trees, giant bird nests, and beehives bigger than conical hats. The forest becomes liveliest in the afternoon. The white of thousands of chirping storks contrasts with the forest’s green. There are also many species of other birds and animals.
Nguyen Van Lam is a local resident: “The forest is enclosed by a dike so there is some water all year round. There are many kinds of fish and we never kill them. We do the same with the birds to protect the ecological environment. The forest is also home to many species of snakes and tortoises”.
Huynh Anh Tuan, who works in the Tra Su forest, adds: “Visitors to the forest praise its beautiful scenery and variety of birds. Some of them - such as darters or also called snakebirds - are in the Red Bood of rare and endangered species.
The row boat trip ends when visitors return to their motor boat which takes them to a 25-meter watchtower. There a 49-power telescope enables them to see the expansive green forest to a distance of 25 km.
A diverse ecological system and magnificent scenery have turned the Tra Su melaleuca forest into a popular tourist attraction. Each year the forest welcomes 10,000 Vietnamese and foreign tourists. Some of them return again and again.